Asia
Thailand is presented here as a historical economic dossier rather than a flat stat sheet: long-run macro cycles, public balance-sheet pressure, market depth, external buffers, and the events that likely bent the curve.
A tighter current-state read before dropping into the long historical charts.
The timeline is where macro numbers meet story: crises, wars, policy shifts, trade deals, and other shocks connected to Thailand.
Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand founded the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok. The organization aimed to accelerate regional economic growth and promote regional stability.
Thailand devalued the baht after depleting its foreign exchange reserves defending the currency's peg to the dollar, triggering a financial contagion that spread across Asia. Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines were severely affected, with currencies collapsing and economies contracting sharply.
A massive 9.1-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra on December 26, 2004, triggered tsunamis that struck 14 countries around the Indian Ocean, killing over 227,000 people in one of history's deadliest natural disasters. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand suffered the greatest losses.
Crashed on landing in poor weather conditions at Phuket, 90 fatalities.
A youth football team and their coach were trapped in a cave for 18 days, global rescue effort.